Welcome to Blowing Smoke, the first Episode of the Dragons sports chat. Over various episodes Monster and I will cover the Dragons region, both second divisions as well as the first.
We will in future posts go into depth with specific divisions and teams, but to start with we'll go for a slightly brief overview of the 1.1, division by division.

As a small disclaimer; two games have happened since we started this so some things we muse over have now happened.

So Monster, what do you make of the AC East? The Rebels won it the last three years, is it theirs to lose?

Monster: As for the last several seasons, they are the favorite to win this Division. The Rebels don't look as dominant as they used to, though. Don't sleep on them as they can challenge most teams when it's playoff time !

Then we have the Muppets, which are just in their 2nd consecutive 1.1 season, but looks too inconsistent for me to dethrone Loretta, the Head General of these Rebels.

Jonny: Unbalanced too, number 1 passing attack with the 32nd ranked rush, but like you said; only their second season, could be a really good future team. What about Xenos?

Monster: Xenos is, if I'm correct, completing his rebuilding phase and getting a powerful team back, maybe not enough to surpass the Rebels yet.

For the French Corsairs, impossible n'est pas français, as we say !!

What about your old division Johnny, the famous NC North ?

Jonny: I do miss that division, still a solid as ever and the Jackalopes are back kicking butt, they're my favourites for the NC.

Big win for the Eagles against the Jackalopes kept Palermo on pace with the Muscles, that's three very strong ex-Elite teams all in one division.

Monster: Yes, the division matchup are über important ! 3 ex-Elite team from 3 different continents ! You only see that in Dragons

The Seahawks aren't yet at the same level of play as the 3 others, but they're on the right way, as they were able to avoid relegation in their 1st season, as opposed to others in the past... They are very solid in these division matchups btw! What's your opinion about them?

Jonny: The Seahawks look like a good, young, team to me, they might need a couple more wins but i think they can beat the drop, their biggest problen is the divisional opponents, i'd put money on three teams from the North going to the playoffs... again!

From the Jackalopes looking strong in the NC how about those Pumas in the AC West? I'm loving their 4-3 defence

Monster: This DL is very efficient, as their #1 Rush D rank (thus far) shows. This team knows how to run the ball over their opponents and stop it when the defence takes the field. Very strong team effort all season long.

Since their return in 1.1, these Pumas are impressive and looking more and more like a powerhouse, this season they won the division crown after week 12!! Keep that in mind and add it to the fact that there are also the Gardians there!

Now that this name has popped up, I'm pretty curious what you have to say about the Gardians?

Jonny: Never sleep on the Gardians! The only Dragon to ever have an undefeated season can't be written off, one of those teams where if they're having, for them, a down season, you feel they're simply building to be better than before. A well spread coaching set-up gives them nice amounts of wages space for their players

The other two teams are somewhat behind the powers of Gardians and Pumas now, but again, these are young teams and Blu in particular has had a tough season having to deal with one of the hardest SC groups.

Bandits have a great passing attack and if they can get the rest of their team to this level they'll be dangerous.

Ok, I'm going to be mean now, of the next two divisions which one do you want to talk about first, AC South or NC East? I'm picking on these guys for potentially being in the divisions that "no one deserves to win"

Monster: Well, as always my guys deserve to win, but I'll tell you one thing; they won it the last 2 seasons. The 'Shocks won it the 2 previous, and before them the Torpedos won it 2 times in a row too, so... it's your guess aha

The AC south doesn't have a dominant team right now, the Walruses seem to be on alternative current, each season they surprise you, and France 2018 is rebuilding, let the more recent team earn their stripes!! (and they seem to be doing it nicely with their #1 & #2 place in this division).

Jonny: I'm joking of course, don't need to go that far back to see Torpedos and Colts beating the Bobbers not having one dominant team says more about the strength of competition in the league than the quality of a division.

Monster: Exactly! That's why we are struggling to put any of our teams above a .500 record aha.

Jonny: AC North, now there's a solid division! Have you seen how many sacks Linstock's brutal defence has racked up?!

Monster: Yeah, they were also terrorizing QBs last season too, looks like we have a defensive mastermind here.

Jonny: You then have Panthers leading the league in rushing yards with a great FB RB combo and Quack Attack with one of the top passing attacks, a fascinating mixture of strengths between these teams. Outlaws slightly behind at the moment, but after some up and down seasons they look like they've got a stable base to build on and contend.

Monster: As you just said the 3 other teams aren't bad neither and each one of them is a threat to the division title. One of the more dense division in terms of level of play with 4 teams pretty close to each other, with very different styles though ! When you see Panthers, last season an Elite Team currently 3rd and not too far behind the leading Linstocks, it's telling a lot about this division!

Jonny: Let’s have a look and the NC West, a big losing streak for Wu-Tang and a turn around after a bad start by Lilywhites has opened up the battle for the division.

Big story here though is the Fighters and a bad season for these guys, ex Elite, been here for a long time and a storied history with 38 trophies! Are they building for something big? I might have to scout some of their young players soon to see what the future holds.

BA (I'm being lazy by not writing their full name ) looks like they could be done, still possible to get out of auto relegation, but the bright side is they're spending such a small amount their war chest is growing and they'll have a great foundation of cash for the future

Monster: I agree, and to go further, I'd say this division is split in two halves : Lilywhites and the Wu Tang Clan as the Cream (!) of the crop, battling for the crown and the playoff spot tied to it, and then the Fighters and BA Patoruzes fighting against relegation.

Not so long ago, this division was decided between Modest Mouse, Girona Dragons team and Panthers, for different reasons, these teams aren't there anymore.

Lilywhites went up from 2.x level around the same time those left, and has been able to take a strong hold onto the NC West, but has been challenged by a very strong start from the 'Clan (I'm still not able to explain the 5-game losing streak after 9 consecutive wins), so there's definitely a good battle to watch here. As Lilywhites possesses a little more experience here, combined with a tough morale condition for the Clan because of this tough streak, I'd give the Danish men the edge here, we'll see!

The Fighters look like they're in a total rebuilding (even I beat them) phase since they came back from Elite, be sure to be prepared when they'll be back !!

BA don't seem like they have found their groove in 1.1, if they survive this season, I doubt they will repeat this feat again. We will welcome them with open arms when they get back stronger in 1.1 in a few seasons though !

Jonny: Coming to the end now and we're finishing with NC South, a young division here with the Vikings being the oldest team starting in season 22.

Saints look strong to take the division, there problem is the amount their QB gets sacked and the amount he's throwing interceptions, they're not top in either category but not far off.

Monster: Yeah, they're not yet among the best division champs in our League, but it looks like they're clinching the NC South for the 3rd seasons in a row, they are gaining experience and surely will be a threat in the playoffs in a few seasons.

The Madrid Vikings aren't too far behind though, they are suffering from some inconsistency problems but regularly pull of unexpected wins, but they might fall short of a Wild Card berth, what's your take on 'em?

Jonny: Vikings have a good running attack but need the rest of the team to step up, if they want to get out of mid-league obscurity.

Tough season for the 79ers, can still beat the drop but will need to find some form before the season ends.

Not much to say about the Raiders, were potentially building for something but have gone bot, we'll see who replaces them next season

Monster: The 79ers are still in position to maintain, but other teams want to get out of relegation spot so the heat is on !

Sad to see a team turning bot, but a least a human manager won't get automatically relegated

Jonny: Well that's the end of "Episode 1", I hope y'all enjoyed reading, we're going to keep this going, ideally with posts at important points during the season, probably shorter but frequent
Whether you're facing relegation, fighting for the playoffs, already waiting for next season or preparing for a shot at the title; go get 'em Wor Dragons!

Oh, hey Monster, do you remember there way a guy that used to do interviews? I wonder if he'd start that again with just the Dragons managers?

Monster: Now that you're saying so, i might remember something... Or maybe it's just the number of we had during this show that's starting to get up my brain

That was some of the best commentator I have ever seen on this game. Very well done, thanks for sharing.

Excellent!

Yeah, this is awesome. Thanks for giving your time to entertain us

Many thanks to you both
Delighted that you wanted to do this - it's a pleasure read for sure.

....and those danes did have the edge and tied it for the title

Awesome job, looking forward to future updates

Welcome to Episode 2! Thanks to everyone for the positive words, glad you enjoyed our post . We figured between the wildcard and divisional rounds would be a good time to see how the season ended, look forward to the really big games and blow some more smoke...
...So let’s dive right in!

Jonny: As a bit of a recap on the battle for the playoffs it doesn’t look like the last day was that exciting?
Everything seemed pretty much wrapped up before the final game with only the NC West Lilywhites Wu-Tang battle for the division, congratulations to the Danes as the Clan’s troubles keep mounting up.

Am I missing something Monster or was this a really boring finale to the regular season?

Monster: Yeah, exciting to see how the NC west was ending, happy since I got the right call
Yeah you missed something I think the #5 and #6 seeds battle in the NC, with the Brasilia Muscles and the Palermo Eagles, as the NC North teams regularly go through the 1st round of the playoffs.

Yet I concede the rest of the playoff schedule was kind of already set.

Jonny: I was hoping the Pumas would go into the final game against the Gardians undefeated, British Blu put a stop to that though, big win for them to help them avoid relegation

Monster : Yeah too bad they couldn't pull an imaculated regular season, but at least their #1 seed was already safe so they didn't have any pressure.

Johnny :How about your ex-Elite compatriots? Fighters and the Hurricanes (i'm going throwback name ) narrowly avoiding the auto-drop but both in the relegation playoffs!

Monster : You know, football teams go through cycles and sometime you have to go through a rebuild. You and I know both of their trophy rooms would make most RZA managers jealous, so I have little doubt they will come back as strong as ever sooner as we think

Jonny: Onto the Wildcard round; Difficult game for your guys, only three points in it, both teams protected the ball well and when games are that close it often comes down to one or two plays, the lone interception of the game by Luigi Zanatta was a big one.

Friendly this Saturday? I got ruined in my Wildcard!

Monster : What a coïncidence ! I ruined my own WC. Guess which manager had possession of the ball within the opponent 30 yard line ( and even in its Red Zone) at the end of both Q2 & Q4 but didn't kick the ball nor had the time to go for 6... And lose by 3 points with both kickers having a 100% day ?
I guess how big this monologue is should give you the answer

Let's play this friendly game then, at a date when only losers can play friendlies

The AFC Wild Card games results really surprised me I didn't expect such margins for these winning teams !

Jonny: Especially the Gardians Thunder game, i had Thunder and Lightning downs as underdogs in that one, they showed me, starting QB Stanley Henson threw for 447 yards and the rotation in the o-line, receivers and across defence kept the players fresh throughout the game. Expect to see Gardians come back big very soon!

Lilywhites are on the right track but the Muscles were too much for them in that game, great run D stopped them in their tracks and an 88% completion percentege, over passing 350 yards and 146 QB rating means little when they can't run the ball.

Monster: Yeah, having a 100 QBR and not being sacked on 68 attempt is something special, even more impressing when you sack the other QB 6 times (!) on 30 attempts (!!). It look like they came into this game against the Gardians with a plan (passing a lot, as during the regular seasons), and executed it very well. They force their opponents to try to catchup on the scoreboard, leading to a lot of pass attempts and pressure on the QB, aka the late Manning Colts scoring bunches and letting Freeney and Mathis do their jobs (do not forget Raheem Brock )

As for the Liliwhites, even as they passed the ball very well, the lack of success on the ground was too harming, as their 2-for-11 on 3rd down shows. Also the yardage difference through the air between them and these Brasilian is very small, as opposed to the Thunder/Gardians game. So even though these are quite good passing numbers, it's misleading as their offense wasn't playing with regularity, and 2 long TD during Q4 are biasing the numbers : in fact the Danish passed for 187 yards before scoring this long touchdown in the last quarter of regulation.

So a lot of lessons to be taught for us thanks to these games

As for the last match we didn't talk about yet, strange passing numbers for the german Rebels, or maybe strange performance of their DBs, what's your take on this Jonny?

Jonny: What a scoreline! This was a game of two QB's, one completed 71% of his passes, the other 45%. That passing offence from Quack Attack looked unbeatable, great use of tight ends to attack the middle of the field and the Rebels 3-4 wasn't getting enough pressure on the QB, let's see how the Pumas D handles them in the divisional, should be an exciting one

Let's go on to the divisionals then

Interesting case in the AC, where we saw two unexpected results, the #5 #6 seeds are even more into this underdog roles as the Pumas and the Linstocks were really (I mean reeeeeeally) impressive seasons !
But looking at how these Wild Cards turned out, I'm not risking myself to predict anything here, maybe and better manager than me could try

Jonny: In lieu of a better manager i'll give it go I'm going Pumas and Linstock Quack and Thunder can win these games but i'm going with the favourites, they have the defences i believe can stop these strong offences, and it's not like the Pumas and Linstock don't have damaging offences to put the points up.

I've put my neck for the AC, your turn for the NC Monster

Monster: Well, for the NC, I'll give it a try, I'm saying the Brasilia Muscles will visit the Juggernaut Jackalopes for the Championship.

The Saints are division champs for the 3rd time in a row, but the Muscles are still stronger, I think. They showed how strong and how complete they were during the regular season and the Wild Card, so I'm saying the Brasilian.

Then for the Palermo Eagles @ the Jackalopes, the kinda "Old vs Not-so-new-anymore school" matchup, I'd bet on the American side. Even though these teams are 1-1 facing each other this season the home side have shown more regularity, dropping just 2 games (in a row) all season long having begun with a 10 game winning streak!

Jonny: The two games between the Eagles and Jackalopes were crazy this year, you're probably right on the Jackalopes but i'm going Eagles just to be difficult

Monster : Well, even though I'm not betting on them, seeing the Palermo Eagles win ( by more than 3 points ) would be nice



This is it for the second edition of Blowing Smoke, thanks again for your messages, we're hoping this new edition will please you as much as the first one, and we're looking forward to make future editions for incoming seasons

Smoke 'em if you got 'em folks

great

Awesome

Thanks heaps for doing this